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All posts tagged: amediting

Years. Actual years of editing. So many drafts I’ve forgotten to celebrate when I finish one. But this week something special happened. This week I finished draft eight of The Young Volcanoes of Tenemere. And I’m not going to do what I usually do, that is, take a couple days off then get cracking with the next draft. This time, I’m going to take the time to be proud of myself, because it draft eight has turned out to be quite a special one. Of my eight drafts, three have been major. What do I mean by major? I mean I’ve basically re-written the entire thing. If I opened up my first draft, the one I started in November 2014 after two years of part-time planning, I don’t know if I would recognise it. I’ve put a lot of work into this novel, only the first in a whole series I am still building. But as slow, and painful, and hard and sometimes full-on depressing as it has been, it’s also been pretty damn great. …

Step 1: Sit down at desk. You spent £150 on this desk and assembled it yourself. You bloody well should use it productively. Step 2: A clean work space is a productive work space. Tidy away clutter and select a scented candle for today’s activities. Meticulously groom your writing playlist on iTunes while you’re at it. Step 3: You’ve forgotten your cup of tea. Make one. Debate for 2 mins whether or not to bring biscuits back with you too. Step 4: Document your hilarious lack of progress so far on Twitter. #amwriting / #amediting Step 5: Open up your manuscript. Feel guilty about how long it’s been since you’ve looked at it. It may be a .doc file but you feel compelled to literally blow the dust and cobwebs off it. Step 6: Tell Twitter this. #amwriting / #amediting